CDC Report Documents Health Disparities

CDC: November 21, 2013

Highlights progress, challenges, and needs for stronger data

Income, education level, sex, race, ethnicity, employment status, and sexual orientation are all related to health and health outcomes for a number of Americans, according to a new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Supplement released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The “CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report — United States, 2013,” is the second CDC report that highlights differences in mortality and disease risk for multiple conditions related to behaviors, access to health care, and social determinants of health – the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, age, and work.

The latest report looks at disparities in deaths and illness, use of health care, behavioral risk factors for disease, environmental hazards, and social determinants of health. This year’s report contains 10 new topics including access to healthier foods, activity limitations due to chronic diseases, asthma attacks, fatal and nonfatal work-related injuries and illnesses, health-related quality of life, periodontitis in adults, residential proximity to major highways, tuberculosis, and unemployment. Read More